Dealer tied to cocaine ring in Montco and Chesco headed to jail

By
Carl Hessler Jr., The Mercury

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

NORRISTOWN — A Norristown man, a “middle-level” drug dealer who worked with a Montgomery Township drug kingpin, is headed to state prison for his role in the drug ring that targeted Montgomery, Chester and Philadelphia counties.

Preston “Pretty” York, 40, of the 800 block of Buttonwood Street, showed no emotion Tuesday as he was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven to 14 years in a state correctional facility on a charge of possession with intent to deliver 125.9 grams of cocaine in connection with incidents that occurred in May 2011.

Judge William R. Carpenter, who convicted York of the charge during a stipulated, non-jury trial in December, imposed the punishment as part of a sentencing agreement reached between York and prosecutors.

With the charges, county detectives alleged York was associated with the corrupt organization operated by Anthony Dennis Sr., 41, of the 100 block of Thames Drive, Montgomery Township, who at the time of his arrest operated the “Heads Up” barbershop on Upper Gulph Road near Wayne, Chester County.

“Preston York was a Norristown drug dealer. He was getting his cocaine supply from Anthony Dennis and then selling it to his own customers, and he’d been doing this in Norristown for quite a while and it finally caught up to him,” said Assistant District Attorney Jason Whalley, who sought a lengthy state prison sentence against York. “I would say he was a middle-level dealer in the organization. He had his own clientele, his own customers.”

“The importance of getting a lengthy state prison sentence is that Mr. York cannot sell cocaine in Montgomery County, Norristown nor any other areas in southeastern Pennsylvania. This is unacceptable and he won’t be able to do it anymore,” Whalley added.

The cocaine was seized from York’s residence during a search on May 18, 2011, according to court records.

Dennis pleaded guilty earlier this month to multiple charges of corrupt organizations, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, dealing in unlawful proceeds, criminal use of a communication facility and conspiracy in connection with incidents that occurred between November 2008 and May 2011.

Dennis’ personal trainer brother, Michael, 36, of Earl Street, Philadelphia, another target of the investigation, opted to go to trial with several others connected to the drug ring and was convicted by a jury earlier this month of multiple drug-related offenses.

The Dennis brothers and York were among 27 people arrested in 2011 as part of an investigation dubbed “Operation Heads Up,” in connection with their involvement in the corrupt organization. The Dennis brothers are awaiting sentencing.

“Anytime you admit and enter a plea, you show that you are remorseful and that you’re admitting what you did,” defense lawyer Leigh P. Narducci said on York’s behalf.

York was not called to testify by prosecutors at the trial of Michael Dennis.

“Even though it sounds like it’s a lengthy sentence, and it is, I think, compared to what those who went to trial and put the commonwealth to the test will get, I think he’ll realize that he made the better deal,” Narducci said on York’s behalf.

York did not respond to a reporter’s questions as he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs by county sheriff’s deputies.

During the investigation of the Dennis brothers, simultaneous raids by 72 law enforcement officers at 21 locations in the three counties on May 18, 2011, resulted in the seizure of four pounds of cocaine with a street value of $204,800, 14 vehicles, a 19-foot-long fishing boat from a storage facility in Collegeville, more than $76,000 in cash and 12 firearms, according to authorities.

The investigation began in November 2008 in Tredyffrin as township police and members of the Chester County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force investigated the barbershop as an alleged hub of the cocaine trafficking operation.

Authorities alleged the Dennis brothers were engaged in the sale of large quantities of cocaine to various individuals including cocaine dealers in Montgomery County.

The arrests were the culmination of a wiretap investigation into the activities of those allegedly involved in the drug ring.